Friday, July 7, 2017

John, part 4, The Irrefutable Logic of a Blind Man

Jesus brings Light and
Life. The blind man in John chapter 9 is in for the surprise of his life. Watch
how he gets physical sight and how he gains another sense, too: spiritual
sight. If you don’t know the story here it is in a nutshell:

Jesus and his disciples
come across the blind man, Jesus heals him, the Pharisees are in an uproar
because He healed on the Sabbath, there’s an investigation and the Pharisees
kick the formerly blind man out of synagogue, and the story ends with Jesus
revealing His divinity to the man who then gains spiritual sight.

Now, you be the blind guy:

You’ve heard the
scriptures read, you know the prophecies, you hang around the temple all the
time begging and listening. You hear some men talking about you. They’re asking
their leader if you or your parents are responsible for your blindness. The
leader says neither you nor your parents are responsible; he says that you’re
blind so the work of God can be displayed in your life. You’re more alert. You
hear them get closer and the leader puts something on your face over those
rounds things that are called eyes, but have no function for you. He tells you
to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. You have some faith so you do.

What is this?! Is this
sight?! This is unbelievable! You cannot contain your excitement. You find your
way home and your neighbors think you’re an imposter. You tell them what
happened. They ask how this could be. You say it was “the man.”

The Pharisees are mad at
“the man” and send for you. You tell them your story. It’s so simple: he put
mud on your eyes, you washed, and now you see. Some are wondering how a sinner
could do this miraculous thing. You are beginning to put it together,
remembering the prophecies. He is not a sinner, he is “a prophet,” you tell
them.

They do not believe any of
your story. They send for your parents. You know your parents will be kicked
out of the synagogue, ruined, if they even hint that this “man,” this “prophet,”
could be the Messiah. Luckily for them they say that you’re of age, you can
testify for yourself.

A second time the
Pharisees ask you and you reply “I was blind but now I see!” But how? What did
he do? They still want to know and you’ve already answered. You’re getting more
than a little frustrated with their unbelief. In fact, you’re impatient and
you’re going to get a bit sarcastic with them. You say, “I have told you
already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want
to become his disciples, too?”

You’ve gone too far. They
hurl insults at you, but you, in your anger, stand up for the “man,” the
“prophet,” and claim he must be from God. Your inner eyes are beginning to see
and as they throw you out of the synagogue you start to know in your heart who
healed you.

And then He finds you and
He asks you if you believe in the Son of Man. You ask who He is and the “man,”
the “prophet,” this Jesus, tells you that He is the Son of Man.

“Lord,” you say, “I
believe.”

You have been blind, but
now you see. At first you thought Jesus was just a man or just a prophet, but
now you know He is Lord.

There is another side to
this story. Look at the Pharisees in this account. Remaining blind in your
unbelief is tragic. We saw how the blind man received both physical and
spiritual sight and became a believer in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The
Pharisees, however, remained spiritually blind and hence doomed.

They come into the story
at the point where the (formerly) blind man is brought before them. Now they’ve
been following things all along in regards to this Jesus person and have
already closed their minds. In fact, they have decided that anyone who
acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah would be “put out” of the synagogue.
That meant financial ruin. They also intended the “putting out” to result in
spiritual ruin as well, but claiming Jesus as the Christ has just the opposite
outcome.

The Pharisees are divided
after they question the (formerly) blind man. Some think that Jesus couldn’t be
the Messiah because he performed this miracle on the Sabbath. Others wonder how
a sinner could perform a miracle. Isn’t it interesting that neither side
disputes the miracle? Obviously they aren’t blind to the miracle; they seem to
accept that as a fact even though they question the poor guy several times. But
they are themselves blind. Why don’t they acknowledge their own scriptures?
Isaiah 29:18, 35:4, 5 and 42:7 all predict that the coming Savior would open
the eyes of the blind–something that had never, ever been done before Jesus did
it.

Not only are they blind,
refusing to admit the truth, but they are liars, too. What? Religious people
are liars? Yes, after the (formerly) blind man gets a little snippy with them
as they persist in their repetitive questions (John 9: 26, 27) the Pharisees
claim they are disciples of Moses and don’t even know where Jesus comes from.
Liars! They knew all about Jesus and just a few verses before we found out that
they would expel anyone who declared that Jesus was the Messiah. And as for
claiming to be disciples of Moses, these same Pharisees (in chapter 8) had just
been arguing with Jesus, saying that they were children of Abraham. They had
such an argument with Jesus that they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus
slipped away. Yet now they say they don’t even know where Jesus comes from.
Apparently they were deaf as well as blind.

The (formerly) blind man
goes beyond snippy now to bold and sarcastic. He says, “Now that is remarkable!
You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does
not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will. Nobody
has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing.” Wow, what an argument he throws back at them.
His deductive reasoning is logical, the premises sound and irrefutable. Do they
refute him? No, they can’t so they throw him out.

A few Pharisees are around
when Jesus seeks out the blind man and reveals Himself as Lord. The Pharisees
ask, “Are we blind, too?” and Jesus answers, “If you were blind, you would not
be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” And
thus they receive judgment (condemnation) by their unbelief. They are doomed.
Are you? Open your eyes, open your spiritual eyes.

About Debra Chapoton

Debbie has written more than 15 novels for kids and adults. She now concentrates on clean young adult fiction which means that though the topics may include tough subjects there are no four letter words or sex scenes.

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